SPIDERS AND MITES. 205 



fangs, the palps, the legs, with all their joints, the corneae 

 of the eyes, the entire skin with every hair, — all are here, 

 and all in their places, with a cleanness and translucency 

 which it would require much skill in dissection to obtain, 

 if we captured a living Spider for our purpose. 



There are in front of the head two stout brown organs, 

 which are the representatives of the antennae in insects ; 

 though very much modified both in form and function. 

 They are here the effective weapons of attack. Each 

 consists of two joints : the basal one, which forms the 

 most conspicuous portion of the organ, and the terminal 

 one, which is the fang. The former is a thick hollow case, 

 somewhat cylindrical, but flattened sidewise, formed of 

 stiff chitine, covered with minute transverse ridges on its 

 whole surface, like the marks left on the sand by the 

 rippling wavelets, and studded with stout coarse black 

 hair. Its extremity is cut off obliquely, and forms a 

 furrow, the edges of which are beset with polished conical 

 points, resembling teeth. 



To the upper end of this furrowed case is fixed by a 

 hinge-joint the fang, which is a curved claw-like organ, 

 formed of hard chitine, and consisting of two parts, a 

 swollen oval base, which is highly polished, and a more 

 slender tip, the surface of which has a silky lustre, from 

 being covered with very fine and close-set longitudinal 

 grooves. This whole organ falls into the furrow of the 

 basal joint, when not in use, exactly as the blade of a 

 clasp-knife shuts into the haft ; but, when the animal is 

 excited, either to defend itself or to attack its prey, the 

 fang becomes stiffly erected. 



By turning the object on its axis, and examining the 

 extreme tip of the fang, we see that it is not brought to a 

 fine point, but that it has the appearance of having been 

 cut off slant-wise just at the tip ; and that it is tubular. 

 Now this is a provision for the speedy infliction of death 

 upon the victim ; for both the fang and the thick basal 



